The Government Emergency Ordinance no. 88/2011 on amending and supplementing Law no. 220/2008 establishing the promotion system of electricity generation from renewable sources (the “EGO no. 88/2011” / the “Ordinance”) was published in the Official Gazette, Part I, no. 736 of October 19th, 2011 [in Romanian, Ordonanta de urgenta nr. 88/2011 privind modificarea si completarea Legii nr. 220/2008 pentru stabilirea sistemului de promovare a producerii energiei din surse regenerabile de energie].
The Ordinance was enacted pursuant to the Decision of the European Commission: State aid SA 33134 (2011/N) – Romania – “Green certificates to promote electricity production from renewable sources” for authorization of the state aid and the need to correlate Law no. 220/2008 with Community legislation.
Thus, for the electricity produced from cogeneration renewable sources, producers seeking a promotion system are required to choose either the (i) support scheme for promotion of high efficiency cogeneration based on useful thermal energy request (according to Government Decision no. 1.215/2009), or (ii) the promotion scheme under EGO no. 88/2011.
Also, EGO 88/2011 stipulates aspects regarding: (i) accreditation procedure of the power plants; (ii) the number of green certificates, issued monthly by the transport operator, for the electricity produced and delivered that benefit the renewable energy producers; and (iii) the price for the electricity produced from the renewable sources.
In order to take advantage of the promotion system by green certificates, the electricity producers holding groups / power plants using renewable energy resources in operation after the entry into force of EGO no. 88/2011, are required to request accreditation to the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority – ANRE, within 30 days.
EGO no. 88/2011 amends other enactments, such as the Government Decision no. 443/2003 on the promotion of electricity from renewable energy resources, Government Decision no. 1.479/2009 on the system for the promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources.